Immigration debate has crystallized around the 11 million

Trinidad, who is undocumented, received her masters degree in public health at San Diego State, shown here at the campus on Friday, June 15, 2012. Undocumented immigrants who are under 30, who have been in the U.S. since childhood and who meet certain criteria will be able to receive work permits and avoid deportations for two years under a new policy announced by the Obama Administration.
— K.C. Alfred

Trinidad, who is undocumented, received her masters degree in public health at San Diego State, shown here at the campus on Friday, June 15, 2012. Undocumented immigrants who are under 30, who have been in the U.S. since childhood and who meet certain criteria will be able to receive work permits and avoid deportations for two years under a new policy announced by the Obama Administration.
— K.C. Alfred

Steve Camarota at the Center for Immigration Studies, also in D.C., believes Americans will be less supportive when the immigration bills emerge in Congress, compared with their polling responses in recent weeks. When surveys offer only extreme options such as legalization versus mass deportation, he said, most respondents feel compelled to choose legalization.

“The public doesn’t really want mass deportations or roundups, but it also doesn’t want the illegal immigrants to stay,” said Camarota, whose organization opposes any type of legalization for unauthorized immigrants. “What they want is sustained enforcement. If illegals could not get jobs or public benefits or free education, they would go home.”

Some lawmakers have said first priority for citizenship should be given to people who have not lived in the U.S. illegally. Other lawmakers want authorized immigrants to undergo an extended, probation-like period before getting the chance to apply for citizenship.

Immigrant advocates said unauthorized immigrants who qualify for legalization should not have to wait longer for U.S. citizenship than what is currently required for green-card holders: three to five years of residency before filing an application for naturalization.

The idea of “going to the back of the line,” waiting for a decade or two to gain citizenship, is unacceptable and not really feasible under the current system, said Enrique Morones, founder of the San Diego-based group Border Angels.

“Immigration reform is long overdue; let’s get it done.” he said. “The entire country agrees the system is broken.”

In the 1986 amnesty program, legal residency status was given to unauthorized immigrants who had been in the country since Jan. 1, 1982; did not have a felony or more than three misdemeanor convictions; registered under the Military Selective Service Act; demonstrated proficiency with the English language; proved an understanding of U.S. history; and paid a fine.

Tramonte expects many of the same conditions this time around. “We need reasonable requirements that people can complete,” she said.

Kristin Hill Maher, a political science professor at San Diego State University, said proposed standards for legalization will reflect how Congress ultimately frames the issue — as a humanitarian effort or as a second chance for lawbreakers.

Conservatives said if Congress offers legalization, it must attach a rigorous threshold. The government needs to mandate payment of back taxes, conduct criminal and terrorist background checks, take full biometrics of each unauthorized immigrant for future tracking, and make sure relevant agencies have enough staffing to handle an influx of applications, said Janice Kephart, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Jim Dorcy of San Diego, who was part of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1986, predicts the government will be overwhelmed again. Background checks were lacking, and overall oversight was scarce back then, he said, and agents were encouraged to quickly approve cases because there were so many applications to be processed in a relatively short period. “I think it was a mess then, and it’s going to be a horrible mess this time because there are a lot more people,” Dorcy said.

It is unclear whether the six-member group in the Senate will address such concerns in its proposal.

Top-ranking Democratic senators and House Majority Leader John Boehner expect the full Senate to take up immigration-reform measures as early as March. The House would follow later in the spring or in the summer.